[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 25, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9917-S9918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ENSIGN:
  S. 1869. A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require 
new voting systems to provide a voter-verified permanent record, to 
develop better accessible voting machines for individuals with 
disabilities, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Rules and 
Administration.
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, in the November 2004 elections, Nevadans 
entered a new frontier for casting their votes. We became the first 
State in the Nation to require that voter-verified paper audit trail 
printers be used with touch-screen voting machines.
  Despite what critics of these machines might tell you, Nevada's 
elections were a success. The machines worked well and were well-
received by voters. During a post-election audit, Nevada compared 
60,000 electronic ballots with their corresponding voter-verified paper 
record and found that they matched with 100 percent consistency. As a 
result, all Nevadans who used these machines can be confident that 
their votes were counted accurately.
  I understand better than most the importance of the integrity of the 
ballot box. I was at the mercy of a paperless-machine election in my 
1998 race for the U.S. Senate. When the votes were tallied with a 
difference of only a few hundred, I asked for a recount in Clark 
County, the only county at the time using electronic voting machines. 
The result of the recount was identical to the first count. That is 
because there was nothing to recount. After rerunning a computer 
program, the computer predictably produced the same exact tally.
  I conceded that race and was elected to Nevada's other Senate seat in 
2000. But that experience made me realize the importance of ensuring 
Americans that their votes will count, it is absolutely fundamental to 
our democracy.
  That is why I led the fight for voter verification paper trails in 
the Help America Vote Act, known as HAVA, which President Bush signed 
into law in 2002. When Congress passed HAVA, we expressed our 
commitment to the principle of ``one person, one vote.'' One important 
component of HAVA provided States with funds to replace aging voting 
machines which had a tendency to malfunction. A voting machine that 
fails to record a vote properly affects voters in the same way as

[[Page S9918]]

if the voters were denied access to the voting booth. Either way their 
vote is not counted.
  Despite these gains, HAVA falls short in one critical area. It does 
not require that electronic voting machines produce a paper trail of 
each ballot. A voter-verified paper trail would allow voters to review 
a physical printout of their ballot and correct any errors before 
leaving the voting booth. This printout would be preserved at the 
polling place for use in any recounts. This is exactly what Nevadans 
experienced when they voted in November.

  This technology is important.
  It increases voter confidence. With the close elections America has 
seen recently, it is important that each American trust the outcome of 
our elections. Machines that allow voters to review a separate paper 
record of their ballots give voters confidence that their votes have 
been cast and will be counted accurately.
  Paper-trail technology ensures that no votes will be lost if a voting 
machine fails. The paper record can be used as the ballot of record if 
a machine malfunctions and fails to record the votes that were cast 
prior to a machine failing. This technology also gives State election 
officials a necessary backup to verify results. Nevada's post-election 
audit ensures that each machine operated properly. This type of audit 
guarantees accuracy in a way that cannot be guaranteed otherwise.
  Unfortunately, the language that is contained in HAVA has not 
resolved this issue for most other States. Now, I am working to ensure 
voting integrity across the country. In introducing the Voting 
Integrity and Verification Act, I want to ensure that HAVA is clear--
voters must be assured that their votes will be accurate and will be 
counted properly. My bill requires that all voting systems purchased 
after December 31, 2012 have an individual permanent paper record for 
each ballot cast.
  Additionally, this bill will help to advance technology for persons 
with disabilities to ensure that disabled voters enjoy the same 
independence when exercising their right to vote as non-disabled voters 
enjoy.
  Technology has transformed the way we do many things, including 
voting. But we cannot simply sit on the sidelines and assume that our 
democracy will withstand such changes. Our continued work to ensure 
that each vote counts here in the U.S. underscores the idea that we 
must always be vigilant in protecting democracy, whether it is brand 
new or more than 200 years old. The Voting Integrity and Verification 
Act protects democracy by protecting the sanctity of our vote.
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